Why is Flash unsafe? Easily explained

The Flash Player from Adobe received regular updates during its wedding and was still considered unsafe. In this practical tip, we'll tell you why.

Why is Flash unsafe?

The Flash Player was developed by Macromedia in the 90s. In 2005 Adobe bought the company and took over the Flash Player.

• The Flash Player is not an independent program, but a plug-in for the browser. This extension ensures that Flash content such as videos or animations run in the browser.
• Unfortunately, it has become very easy for fraudsters to use the Flash Player as an entrance door to your PC. If you open a website with manipulated Flash content, this can be enough for malware transmission or espionage.
• The reason for this uncertainty of the Flash Player is probably its complexity. Flash offers numerous functions and interfaces that always serve as intermediaries between the website and the browser. The attack surface is therefore very large.
• It is unclear whether Flash was holey right from the start and would need a restart for a secure Flash, or whether Adobe's development of Flash was not so important. After all, the use of Flash was always free and, unlike other Adobe products like Photoshop, didn't bring in too much money.
• One thing is certain, however: Flash has almost had its day. The new HTML5 standard is on the rise. Flash will be permanently discontinued by Adobe in 2020.

In the next practical tip we will show you how to uninstall the Flash Player from the PC.